Welcome back to my episodic And Just Like That recaps! Tune in every week to read all of my perspective on four (turned three) best friends as they date, write, and generally engage in coming-of-age acts dozens of years too late This week they released two episodes on the same day, so I’ll be dropping the episode one recap today and the episode two recap in a couple of days. After that, it should be back on a once a week schedule and so should I.

I’ve been recapping shows for just over a year now, and this is the very first one that has a second season! I’m excited to get to continue recapping this frankly quite messy show and continue my perspectives beyond just one season. Hopefully my recapping skill has also grown in the past year, and you all can see the change.

I must admit I enjoyed this episode far more than I thought I would! There were a couple of uncomfortable or cringe worthy scenes, but the overall arc of the show was fun and they did a much better job balancing screen time between the new characters and the originals in a way that felt natural and unhurried. I will most definitely be watching and recapping the rest of this season!

We open with a “Tiny Dancer” montage of all of our leading ladies walking sexily towards their significant others. Carrie is still with her Podcast Producer Daddy, Lisa and Charlotte seduce their respective husbands, Seema struts out of the bathroom to reveal she’s still seeing the hot doorman, and Miranda walks out into a backyard to join a topless Che in the pool. Nya, meanwhile, flips through the TV channels alone, having not reconciled with her husband over their differing views on children and parenthood.

Interestingly, we see both Miranda and Charlotte topless over the course of these scenes! I am impressed with their actresses for doing it, because although they both look great, Hollywood treats women over 50 like shit and it’s nice to see all of these women being portrayed as hot and desirable.

The words “And Just Like That” drift across our screen, and we land in bed with Carrie and the producer, who in this scene I learn is named Franklyn. They enjoy an intimate morning of watching cooking shows and attempting to poach eggs together before Carrie jumps on the phone for one of her dozens of daily calls. 

This time, it’s Seema, who wants to make sure Carrie received the caviar she sent. Apparently, the big event of the episode (and maybe the next?) is going to be the Met Ball, which the majority of the NYC-based cast is attending thanks to Carrie’s and Lisa’s fame and wealth. 

The second call is Charlotte, who arrived at Carrie’s front door just in time to see Franklyn leaving. Charlotte is equally shocked to see Carrie cooking as she is to see her with a man. 

“I’ve repurposed my kitchen. Did you know that stoves aren’t just for storage?” Carrie asks, reminding us all of how Carrie would use her oven to store shoes.

Across the city (or, more likely, a few blocks away) Lisa is hard at work as a work from home mom. Google Docs wants me to autocorrect that to “housewife”, but that’s incorrect! Lisa runs the house, takes care of the kids, and is a successful producer of either a show or a documentary, that remains unclear. She’s doing it all!

Unfortunately, the only thing her husband wants to be doing is her; he just can’t get enough. He suggests that she skip her meetings to have sex that morning, but Lisa refuses, adamant that she be able to do her own job. She manages to assert her power while still lacing every sentence with sexual innuendos and I have to admit, it’s hot!

We then check in on our final dynamic duo, Nya and Miranda, who are facetiming, because apparently they’re on that level now. It’s amazing how quickly you can go from committing microaggressions against your teacher to calling her half naked on a weekday!

Miranda is naked because she’s going into a sensory deprivation tank. Che had made the appointment, but their wardrobe meeting is going over and they can’t make it. Nya is also alone, but her loneliness is much more pervasive. She just wants to be able to eat dinner somewhere without everyone asking where her husband is! 

After the call, Miranda climbs into the tank, which she very quickly climbs out of swearing, giving us a shot of full body nudity and the knowledge that Miranda did not, in fact, change her entire personality upon moving to LA. Watching scenes like this while knowing that Cynthia Nixon ran for office just a few years before truly makes me laugh.

At Che’s fitting, they’re in an argument with wardrobe over what they should actually wear. The plan is for Che to dye their hair blue and wear a ridiculously over the top outfit, but Che just wants to be casual. I didn’t realize they were against being over the top, but I guess it’s character development! 

Just as they’re complaining to their stylists, a person named BD walks in. BD, it turns out, is the writer, which is confusing to me because I’d previously assumed Che was doing a Lena Dunham writer/star thing. They’re not, but BD sort of wishes they were, because they look exactly like the costume that was designed for Che! Che says as much, but BD thinks it’ll be a “fun little bridge” between actor and writer.

Che is not having it. The show is named Che Pasa, god damn it!

Charlotte and Lisa are busy getting fitted for the Met Ball together. Seamstresses—and Anthony—flit around the women as they complain about their husbands wanting too much attention. The scene serves as a chance for a bit of exposition. Charlotte is going to sit at Lisa’s table for the Met, and Anthony is going as her date. 

This becomes a problem just a few seconds later when Charlotte re-enters her house to find Lilly playing the piano and Rock with some big news: Harry thinks he’s going to the Met. Charlotte assumed that Harry hated these types of things, but he waltzes into the room in a tux and a rather large hat, speaking in a British accent and grinning. 

Unlike Anthony, who is planning on wearing a plain tux, Harry has a whole outfit planned. This man could not be more excited!

Over at the podcast studio, Carrie is filming another of her solo episodes. Sarah Jessica Parker has such a raspy voice when she speaks into the microphone that I would most definitely listen, despite the lackluster advice she gives in each episode. 

After recording, Franklyn comes in and asks if she wants to get drinks with him and his friends on Tuesday. She says yes! Is this the beginning of a more serious romance? 

Meanwhile, Miranda is getting upgraded from baby gay to experienced queer. Che got her a harness, and while Miranda isn’t even sure that she’s into it yet, she’s excited to put it on and try it out. While Miranda fumbles, Che reclines in bed in the most douchey possible way, not so much as offering to help their girlfriend figure out what she’s doing. 

It doesn’t matter much anyway, because just then Che gets a phone call from prolific caller Carrie. As Miranda wriggles about in the background of a scene, slipping into the harness and then trying to attach the dildo, Carrie confides in Che (and Miranda, who is on speaker) that she’s sleeping with Franklyn.

Apparently, Carrie doesn’t want to take things to the next level with Podcast Producer Daddy. She only said yes out of “pathological politeness”, and now she needs to know how Franklyn will react if she relays this to him. Che gets it. Some relationships are “just about sex” and while that’s great, it means you have to keep it in the bedroom.

Miranda hears this and for some reason, despite knowing Che is on the phone with her commitment-phobic best friend, assumes that Che is talking about their relationship. Which makes no sense! This leads to her removing the strap on—and the collar she’d been fiddling with—and suggesting that the two of them go out to dinner. 

Che says they’re still working on material for their set so they don’t want Miranda to see it yet, which apparently also means that they can’t go out to dinner, and suggests tomorrow night, when their material will definitely be fully workshopped and polished. They pull Miranda into bed, and we cut away from the scene.

They’re not the only ones getting it on! Seema is in bed with her hot doorman, and if he’s going to stick around much longer I’m going to have to scroll IMDb and figure out his name. Hot Doorman shares that he wants her to meet his son. She’s on board with this, but there’s one problem—the lunch is on the same day as the Met.

In my historical experience, the Met Gala is at night, and lunch is in the day, but it’s a “European lunch” which could take years and Seema needs to be home by at least 2:30 to get to work with her glam squad. 

This means Seema is out for the Met, which she shares at a lunch with Carrie, Charlotte, and Anthony. Rather than jump on this newly-created +1 vacancy immediately, Charlotte sits quietly as Anthony brings up the idea of Carrie bringing her “booty call”. Carrie once again reiterates her complaints about seriousness. It’s all very mundane.

Charlotte does finally tell everyone about the Harry plus one situation, and Anthony agrees to go with Carrie.

Nya decided to try going out to dinner alone again (Pro Tip: order delivery and you can get as much as you want without anyone knowing you’re alone), and she’s approached by a very attractive man named Toussant. He hits on her, but she tells him that she’s married, which while technically true, doesn’t seem that important at this moment. He apologizes for the approach and walks away, inspiring Nya to order herself another drink.

Che is doing their set at “The Comedy Store”, but luckily we only have to see a few seconds before we cut to the behind the stage. Miranda apparently came to the show despite Che desiring otherwise, and she runs to the back to give Che a behind-the-back hug and congratulations. 

“Don’t hug me.” Che says uncomfortably, and when Miranda becomes confused they clarify “I’m at work.”

The whole thing is very awkward and I don’t understand where we’re going with this plotline! 

After her solo dinner, Nya is clearly incredibly drunk. She calls Andre and demands he switch to Facetime before attempting to have phone sex. It is at this moment that I realize I have no idea how the Andre/Nya plotline left off. Are they technically still together? 

It would seem that way, because Andre tells Nya that he’s not alone. There’s a girl in his room who he’s writing a song with, and this makes Nya understandably irate. This realization, combined with the alcohol, lead to her saying that the only song she’d be writing right now is a break-up. I watched the entire recap before this season and reread my own, and I still don’t understand the status of this marriage. Please let me know in the comments!

While everyone else hired professionals to make their dresses for the Met, Carrie hired podcast co-host Jackie’s girlfriend, Smoke. She’s an incredibly talented designer and Carrie had no doubt that her dress would be fabulous. 

It probably would have been, but unfortunately for everyone there’s a seamstress flu going around and so nobody fitted the dress. This scene feels incredibly sitcom-y, and not at all in the tone of the rest of the show, but I will tolerate it for where it leads us in the end.

While Jackie and Carrie wait for Smoke to fix the dress, Jackie smells Podcast Franklyn’s perfume and Carrie admits that they’re hooking up. Jackie claims that she should make sure Franklyn knows they’re not dating. What is with this insistence that men are against the casual hookup! I do not understand—if they didn’t define it, they didn’t define it. 

All is still not well in the California paradise. Che is blowing off Miranda when she tries to have sex, and Miranda has had enough. She calls them out for being distant, and Che admits that there is something wrong with them and their relationship.

The reason they didn’t tell Miranda is because they were worried about how she’d react. What’s the problem? Che has been on a diet ever since the costume department told them that their belly hangs over their jeans. Now, whenever Miranda touches them, they worry that Miranda thinks they’re overweight as well.

I did think that comment by the costume people was extraordinarily uncalled for, but I hate the fact that we’re addressing it in a way that makes Che uncomfortable with their body. This is the second TV show reboot that has added a queer masc presenting, non-skinny character (the first being The L Word: Generation Q with Rosie O’Donnell), only to create a plotline that centered around that character losing weight. Just let the fat butches be fat butches!

Che expresses how frustrated they are that they even let that get to them at all, and the couple exchanges a cute moment where Miranda shares her fears and spoons Che until they start smiling through their tears. 

It’s nice to see them as an actual person, but I still hate this plotline and hope this is the last we see of it. 

Seema is out to lunch with her boyfriend, his son, and his ex-wife. The meal appears to be going well, and then her boyfriend and son step out for a smoke and she finds out that he still lives with his ex-wife. Because it’s exactly 2:30 and Seema doesn’t do “messy” things, she’s out. She gets up and leaves the restaurant immediately, leaving Carrie to call Anthony and tell him that he can no longer be her date.

This isn’t the only phone call Carrie made today. Inspired by every single person in her life telling her to set clear boundaries, she makes a quick call to Franklyn and tells him that she’s only ready for Thursdays. He understands, and the call ends quickly.

Lisa is editing her documentary with her hair done in fancy lingerie. She has 10 minutes before her editor sends a new cut, and she and her husband decide to use that time to hook-up. Lisa is incredibly high strung, but the only way her husband knows how to help her is to try to have sex. Which I find annoying, but I am enjoying how much sex there has been in this premiere! 

She ends up forgetting to reserve the limo, and walking to the Met in the most stunning gown and bizarre face covering I’ve ever seen. 

Lisa also delivers the quote of the episode: “It’s not crazy, it’s Valentino”

Charlotte is getting ready for the Met as well. Her corset is so tight that Lilly cannot tighten it on her own, so she summons Rock and their strength to help out. Rock doesn’t want to uphold the patriarchal standards, but Charlotte tells her they have to for today.

Harry is ready as well, but when they go to walk out of their apartment he finds out he won’t be on TV, and nor will he meet a celebrity. He doesn’t even know why he would attend in that case, and Charlotte screams that she’s wondered the same thing. That’s it, Anthony is back in!

Seema leaves her apartment surrounded by stylists and photographers, looking gorgeous in gold as she slides into her car. 

Now all we have left is Carrie, whose dress looks frankly boring next to everyone else’s. Smoke is having a breakdown, unable to pull it together in time. She begs Carrie to find another dress to wear with the cape, and while Carrie says no at first, she then realizes that she does have the perfect thing.

“I’ve only worn it once, it’s not the best memory”, she says, and in that moment we all know where this is going. The wedding dress! 

And that’s the episode!